Still playing: Joyce Iamstrong and her FGCU teammates trying to keep eye on ball after tough A-Sun loss

SCOTT CLAIR

10:12 AM, Mar 21, 2013

Scott McIntyre/Staff
FGCU's Joyce Iamstrong snags a rebound off Stetson University's Ashley Dennis during the final game of the Atlantic Sun Basketball Championship at Mercer University in Macon, Ga.

Scott McIntyre

Scott McIntyre/Staff
FGCU's Sarah Hansen shoots a three pointer during the first half of their game against Stetson University in the Atlantic Sun Basketball Championship at Mercer University in Macon, Ga. on Saturday.

Scott McIntyre

FGCU women look to rebound in NIT

The Florida Gulf Coast University women’s basketball team is still playing when most college teams in the country have already closed the books on the 2012/13 season.

That’s a good thing, right?

It is and it isn’t for the members and fans of the Eagles.

After finishing the regular season with a 27-6 record, FGCU had its hopes set on qualifying for the NCAA National Championship tournament for the second straight year.

The Eagles won the Atlantic Sun Conference regular season title for the third consecutive season. However, after leading by 11 points late against Stetson in the A-Sun tournament title game two weeks ago, FGCU’s shooting went cold and lost 70-64.

A win would have meant an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. The loss meant the Eagles would have to wait a week until March 17 for the tournament brackets to be announced to see if they would receive an at-large bid.

Unfortunately for Florida Gulf Coast, they didn’t make the draw and instead are playing in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).

In the first round of the WNIT, the Eagles will have already hosted Winthrop (20-11) of the Big South Conference at Alico Arena. The game took place the evening of March 21, after the Collier Citizen’s press time.

“Our ultimate goal was to make the NCAA tournament, but we have a really big opportunity in front of us,” said Sarah Hansen, FGCU’s junior forward. “We have a really good chance to make some noise in the WNIT. We’re going to take this opportunity and make the most of it.”

Hansen was named the A-Sun Player of the Year. She led the Eagles with 16.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game this season.

Despite the setback, FGCU coach Karl Smesko took the loss in stride.

“I try to use losses like this to motivate me to get better,” said Smesko, the A-Sun’s Coach of the Year. “We lost a (NCAA Division II) national championship game (in 2007), and we learned a lot from it. We came back better and stronger.

“Last year we lost in NCAA tournament in a real heartbreaking game, and we came back and learned from it, got better stronger.”

If FGCU beat Winthrop, the Eagles will play the winner of Thursday’s University of Florida (18-14) at Florida International University (19-12) game on Saturday, Sunday or Monday at a site yet to be determined.

“There were three teams from Florida, so you didn’t know how they would get matched up,” Smesko said. “Somebody was going to be playing somebody outside of Florida, so it’s not a complete surprise we’re playing a team we couldn’t predict.”